Xi, Brazil's Rousseff agree on advancing railway cooperation

Chinese President Xi Jinping met his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff here Sunday, calling for early substantial progress in China-Brazil railway cooperation.

The relationship between China and Brazil has a promising future, Xi told Rousseff on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Australia, noting that he and Rousseff reached broad consensus on deepening bilateral cooperation in all fields in his July visit to Brazil.[Special coverage]

Both sides should continue to work together to achieve more results in bilateral cooperation and promote trade facilitation and liberalization, said Xi, calling for early progress in building freight rail, high-speed rail in Brazil and a transcontinental South American railway connecting Brazil and Peru.

China is ready to enhance coordination with Brazil in multilateral mechanisms, promote solidarity and cooperation among BRICS countries and rise up to the challenges such as climate change with Brazil, Xi said.

The Chinese president hoped Brazil will actively support and participate in the first ministerial meeting of a China-Latin America forum to be held in Beijing next year.

For her part, Rousseff said Brazil attaches great importance to Xi's proposal and China's measures of developing the Brazil-China comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Brazilian president welcomed China's participation in building Brazil's high-speed rail, and hoped to set up a working team for the transcontinental South American railway at an early date.

She said Brazil also hopes to enhance cooperation with China in such areas as oil and gas, new energy, satellite and information technology, adding that her country is willing to actively promote Latin America-China cooperation.

Xi arrived late Friday for the G20 Summit and a state visit to Australia.